Rising Tensions in Ukraine Prompt Hundreds of Jews to Consider Immigration to Israel

Email a copy of "Rising Tensions in Ukraine Prompt Hundreds of Jews to Consider Immigration to Israel" to a friend

Ukrainian Jews who arrived on a special Fellowship flight to Israel recently. Photo The Fellowship.

JNS.org – The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, or The Fellowship, said that in the last two weeks they have been flooded with hundreds of calls from Ukrainian Jews inquiring about immigrating to Israel as a result of increased tensions with Russia.

In the past month alone, The Fellowship, known for helping Jews immigrate to Israel, has received more than 1,700 inquiries (over 1,000 emails and 720 phone calls) from Jews in the Ukraine in their office in Kiev, the organization said.

There are 260,000 Jews living in the Ukraine. About 5,000 are eligible for emigration who live in the Donbass region, which has been experiencing violence and unrest since March 2014, when government troops began fighting pro-Russian rebels, following the Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

“The plight of the Jewish people in Ukraine is deteriorating,” said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of The Fellowship. “Our support for them will mean the difference between life and death, whether we’re providing critical aid such as food and medicine or helping those who wish to immigrate to Israel.”

Overall, as a result of the conflict and rising tensions in the region, The Fellowship has brought more than 3,200 Jews from the Ukraine to Israel.